Thinking About a 22BR Build Any Information Would be Appreciated

[lgwatson]

Thinking about a 22BR barrel. Would use it for varmint, mostly P dogs. Probably use Sierra 55 Blitz Kings, Hornady 50 VMAX and Berger 52 FB Varmint Bullets. I would appreciate suggestions on reamer and chamber specs. From reading this sight, a shorter throat for these bullets may be best.

 

[17VLD]

Great cartridge,would strongly consider a 12 twist and the 53 VMax for pd’s.
Most of my pd guns are zero free bore.Might also think of a fast twist and some of the 69 grain class of bullet and a 9 twist.If you go to the heavy for caliber 80s and 90 class it’s my opinion to start thinking about a 6mm.Thats because you mentioned pd’s,Lots of shots and the majority of your shots will be within 500 yards.This is obviously a generalization and my opinion,if it is to be used to try and reach way out at a slower pace then by all means build it for the heavies.After all the years of neck turning,choose no turn neck diameter and I would say to talk to your Smith about using a reamer for the Norma/Lapua 1.560” case not the 1.520 case ,you don’t wanna spend your time trimming Lapua brass if you don’t have to.
Just my .02.
Matt

 

[JSH]

^^^^^
Can’t add any more than what has been said.

I never intended to go over a 55 when I built mine. If I were to go to heavy it would be a whole different cartridge like 22CM.

I intended to run a lot of 50 grain TNT as I have a supply. I tried some 53 grain Vmax and doubt I ever use anything else.

I was told by several to use H335 for best throat and barrel life. I tinkered with some 4198. Went to H335 and have decided to stay with it. Buddy has same barrel and chamber, he is using and trying numerous powders. Will look at throats this winter and see what they look like.

 

[357Mag]

Thinking about a 22BR barrel. Would use it for varmint, mostly P dogs. Probably use Sierra 55 Blitz Kings, Hornady 50 VMAX and Berger 52 FB Varmint Bullets. I would appreciate suggestions on reamer and chamber specs. From reading this sight, a shorter throat for these bullets may be best.

Lg -

Howdy !

I had one of the very first ones out there. Fred Sinclair 'smithed mine, and I had him set it up for short range benchrest; and for use on groundhog . Wichita " Mini " w/ a Hart SS 22" 1-14, 2oz trigger, McMillan benchrest stock; 24X Leupold.

A handfull of cases Fred gave me for use in case forming came from Mike Walker @ Remington, and were
so new that they didn't have any headstamp; and had no primer pocket in them. Fred gave me my choice on primer size, and I told him to drill the cases for SR primers ( mid- 1970's ).

I also formed cases using Federal .308 brass, which were LR primed. I myself found no discernable difference in accuracy between the use of either primer size, and at the time I was transitioning out of using CCI over to FEDERAL. IF you go w/ SR primed brass, you'll be hitchin' yourself to that wagon.

I shot custom Ron Feifer 52gr HPs, which used dies that mimicked the Rem 52HP. For groundhog, I shot Hornady 55SX .

MHO - the .22BR was ok for what it was designed to do, but I was not dominating @ local area BR shoots.
I did not agg any better than anyone else, but can only blaim the nut behind the bolt for that ! Guys were starting to show up w/ this new wildcart called a " PPC ".

In the latter half of the -70s, I was already shooting my wildcat " .22-35 Remington " in another custom rifle Sinclair had 'smithed for me. As far as groundhog work was concerned, the larger capacited .22-35 wildcat served my needs much better; and was still superbly accurate The .22BR is a good / efficient case design fer sher.... but that only goes so far when it comes to things like ultimate obtainable velocity, deliverable energy; and useful application range.

With regards,
357Mag


With regards,
357Mag

 

[NorCalMikie]

ZERO free bore, no turn neck. Start with the lightest bullets you can get your hands on. Go heavier as the throat wears.
One thing to remember, you can't just dump powder in the case and go shooting like with a 6BR. Go slow, a little at a time and you'll never need a mallet to beat the bolt open. You'll find 2 node when loading. One high and one low. Go low and leave yourself some wiggle room for when it gets hot. And if you go high, keep that mallet handy.

 

[JEFFPPC]

I pretty much agree with Mikie. I built a 22br based on having a lot of 748 powder and wanting to shoot 50 to 55 gr bullets. I chose a 12 twist and skim the necks. It has turning out to be very accurate. But not with 748 which was ok for varmints but not really what I wanted. Switching to VV135 made it very accurate. It's a fun cartridge with little recoil and very accurate with a variety of bullets. I have found 55 gr8 bullets around 3590 to be deadly.

 

[lgwatson]

ZERO free bore, no turn neck. Start with the lightest bullets you can get your hands on. Go heavier as the throat wears.
One thing to remember, you can't just dump powder in the case and go shooting like with a 6BR. Go slow, a little at a time and you'll never need a mallet to beat the bolt open. You'll find 2 node when loading. One high and one low. Go low and leave yourself some wiggle room for when it gets hot. And if you go high, keep that mallet handy.

Are freebore and throat the same thing?

 

[lgwatson]

Are freebore and throat the same thing?

I read some more and found that freebore and leade are the same. Is that correct.